We are all Completely Beside Ourselves
“We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves” is Karen Joy Fowler’s sixth novel. It covers various sophisticated moral and ethical issues, in a young woman’s funny, witty and wry voice. Rosemary, the narrator, works hard to keep certain aspects of her young life a secret from other people. However, she also worked hard to conceal the secret from herself. Her sister and brother went missing, her father retreats into research and data while her mother became a shell. She tossed a glass full of milk on the floor and got arrested. But, something else ‘beside themselves’ is going on. It is a secret (Fowler, 2014).

The book analyzes an ostensibly experiment of nature vs. nature. If Fern was raised as human, what would she be capable of, especially in language literacy. According to Rosemary, a psychologist’s daughter, whatever is being studied is not what is actually under study. She suspect’s she is the study subject, not Fern. She thinks her father is not raising a chimp with the ability to talk as humans, but the converse; a human who could talk as chimps (Calarco, 2014). She is upset with her father upon giving this issue much thought. It is likely that Rosemary is simply being unfair.

Although Rosemary is not ready to admit, her mother was equally involved in the experiment. She is defensive and protective of her mother’s total collapse. According to a research Rosemary did on the experiments, it is easier and more relevant to find out how chimps communicate to each other instead of how well they can learn to communicate with humans. It took almost a century to remove humans from the midst of the ‘chimp experiment (Calarco, 2014. During that time, little to no existing research suggested that it is human’s fault for failing to comprehend instead of the converse. Human primacy and intelligence forms and communication priorities were not questioned.

Unlike humans, chimps develop faster and, are more advanced in every way by age two. Rosemary attributes to herself the classic chimp qualities. The attributes are outlined on her report card for kindergarten. She describes them as possessive, impulsive and demanding. It is not easy for her to keep her hands to herself, and perceives the space around her horizontally and vertically. She is unable to climb things as Fern, her sister, does, but still views the world as climbable (Fowler, 2014).

According to the narrator, science and medical research, including meats are not bad,...…refrain from jumping on desks and tables during play and biting. However, it was too late to become fully ‘human’. The kids in her school realized she was different in the way she carried out herself (Calarco, 2014). They shunned, and nicknamed her a “monkey girl.” The novel provokes readers to think critically about the various aspects of human relationship with animals, something that most people would rather overlook or ignore. It asks various questions. Do animals have empathy? Do they think? Do they have long-term memories?

Although the novel is exquisite and smart, it is mostly sad and portrays one of the many ways humans can behave unethically towards animals. The histories of real “cross fostered” chimps, including the infamous Washoe, are covered throughout the novel. Washoe was the first American chimp to learn the sign language. The novel author quotes the chimp’s researcher and human companion for a very long time (Fowler, 2014). According to the researchers, the chimp “taught him that the word ‘being’ in the phrase ‘human being’, is more critical than the word ‘human’.” If you think creating a blur between humans and animals is simply an emotional reaction or just blasphemy, the novel dares its readers to think twice.

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